Crimson Red
by Fher34
Summary: Because Kurenai wasn't just a mistress of genjutsu; she lived a lie, but she knew truth. Because Hinata wasn't the disgrace that wasn't supposed to be born. Because there was more to Kiba than anyone thought. Because Shino wasn't just a bug boy from a weird clan. And because Sasuke...Well, Sasuke was another story. This was Team Crimson Red. Team 8 Fanfiction. SasuHina. 9.10.14
1. Preface: Midnight Blue

_**Crimson Red**_

_**.**_

_**Preface**:_

_Midnight Blue_

**.**

**.**

**.**

"_I no longer want to run away!"_

_-_**Hyuuga Hinata**

**.**

Blood ran down the tip of her nose like a thick cheery-colored thread of dark crimson, descending toward her small mouth and painting her full lips a lovely shade of desirable red.

The metallic smell of the tainting substance that bathed her body was overwhelming, the hanging chains on the low ceilings a telltale of what the otherwise vacant chamber was used for.

Torture.

In here, they were tortured.

In here, she had been locked.

In here, she had stayed quiet.

In here, she had heard midnight cries in the distance.

Her left eye was forced shut, the massive purple swelled skin around it a marvelous contrast against the two opposite tints of her flesh.

Ivory white and violet blue.

The combination was not at all bad now that she thought about it.

To her supposed kidnappers, it was a sight that made them smile with superiority and power. They thought it was over. They believed that she was weak, that she was stupid, that the drugs they had mixed in her drink at that restaurant hadn't been obvious, that they had a Hyuuga, that they owned victory.

...They were wrong. They were naive.

To her, her bruising was nothing but a slight throbbing of pain at the back of her cranium.

She had endured far worse in the last few years. This was nothing.

_Nothing_.

Not even the senbon strategically inserted in several of her chakra pathways could compare.

Her mattered and recently cut short hair stuck to her skull with blood from a day ago, crusted and stiff. A day ago, she was captured after a night of hanging out with her 'friends' in a lowly food establishment in the poorest part of the eastern side of Fire Country.

Well, not quite.

Just twenty-tree hours, forty-four minutes, and one second to be exact.

And the count was still on. Time never stopped for anyone. Not even for someone like her.

Her head rose, unbalanced bangs of electric blue adorning her face and moving along with her as she tilted her head to the side, rested it to the cool and rough wall, and sighed.

It was almost time.

She was ready and in position.

"A debt must be paid," she said, and her voice, soft, gentle, and hushed echoed like a tentative whisper back to her. "And a price will be given."

The door opened without warning, and Hinata looked up slowly, her only visible eye a moon shinning in the darkness that engulfed her surroundings.

Heavy booted footsteps stopped in the threshold, the long shadow casted by the light outside flickering as the newcomer began to move, closing the distance between it and the form hidden in the farthest corner of the small dungeon.

"Why, hello there," the male voice coming from the man before her greeted, its cheerful tone making her stomach feel unsettle. That particular tone always managed to disgust her. "My boys tell me you haven't said a word since your awakening. Why is that? Is it because of the needles blocking your chakra circulation?"

No answer.

The man was unbothered. "Ah, well, it can only be expected." He scoffed with clear amusement. "You are a Hyuuga, aren't you?" he said, kicking her _gently _on the needle-free side of her body.

Hinata hissed at the impact.

"Oh, forgive me! Did I hurt you?" he inquired, grabbing a fistful of her hair roughly.

Hinata's lips remained shut.

The man's smile that had resembled a crescent moon due to his white denture swiftly vanished. "You seem to have a very stubborn spirit, little one." Another tug of her hair that made her scalp lit on fire. "I think I will be able to take care of that. You see," he breathed, his lips almost touching her cheek, "that's what I do best."

One of his hands reached for the senbon in her arm and pushed it in all the way. Blood immediately flooded the harmed area.

"Breaking and harvesting, those are my specialties," he informed her proudly. "Just like any animal that walks this country," he chuckled.

Her jagged bangs obscured her eyes as her lips turned down with displeasure. "I-I also have specialties," she finally croaked.

Dark eyes glinted with interest in the scarce light. "Is that so?" he drawled like an adult would do to a child. He was the one in control and he knew it. It was a game he enjoyed playing, and one he liked to win.

The rotten smell of his body odor almost made her gag. "Y-yes. W-would you like to see them?"

A smirk. "Wouldn't it be an honor," he mocked. "And coming directly from a stuttering Hyuuga, no less. I have to admit, I'm impressed; the world believes your clan is mighty and powerful. Yet, you stutter. How so?" he snorted. "You're pathetic –"

"Am I?" her lovely voice said from behind and the man froze, the jab of her fingers against his spinal cord bringing him to his knees.

Wide eyes watched the figure of the Hyuuga woman he had been talking to disintegrate in thousands of blue rose petals flying in a nonexistent wind, the senbons falling to the floor aimlessly.

"Am I pathetic now?" an unbound Hinata questioned, her pale gaze unbruised and on the man at her feet.

There was no answer as the man realized that – "This is a trap," he spat.

"Yes," she confirmed. "You thought you had beat me. Rule number one: never underestimate your enemies. They can be mere illusions," she explained serenely, her fingers sending jolts of electricity as her chakra prepared his body for what was about to come. "Don't you agree?"

"W-who are you?" the man gritted out, shaking as he struggled to move and was betrayed by his own body.

"My name," a Byakugan was activated, powerful chakra coiling beneath veins and arteries across marred skin, " is Hyuuga Hinata." A hand encased in lethal chakra hovered over a pumping heart that galloped with fear. "But the shinobi world calls me – "

"– Midnight Blue," the man gasped, his beady eyes that reminded Hinata of a frightened mouse filling with understanding.

It couldn't be a coincidence.

Her hair, that unique mane of infinite dark navy that he himself had cut the night before because he preferred his women with short-hair. He should have realized, should have known as the waterfall of indigo slipped through his impure fingers, that it was her, that it was _it_, but he had been blinded by the womanly curves that had appealed to him once he saw her in that (ironically enough) blue dress in that dirty establishment.

And now he would pay for his mistake.

Hinata didn't blink, her flashing silvery stare firm and steady. "Yes," she conceded softly. "Hyuuga Hinata. Codename: Midnight Blue. Team: Crimson Red."

And just like the previous others in her past, the last thing the man saw was midnight blue hair flash before his eyes, and then...

Darkness.

And just like the rest, he was painted a soft crimson red from the inside as Hinata's Junken ruptured the internal organs apart in a parody of beautiful art.

"Liver."

Her veins retreated.

"Lungs."

The majestic glow of her chakra faded.

"Heart."

Silence.

"Death."

No more breathing. An undetectable pulse.

An unresponsive heart.

"You shouldn't divulge your information around," a voice said from in the shadows, and a figure stepped out, followed closely by another tall build. "It can be dangerous."

The slight buzzing of a bug near her ear made her unfeeling facade fall. Concentrating a drop of her chakra to the insect on her skin, she feed it to the small being as a form of recompense for staying with her for long hours. Silently, the insect returned to its owner, and two blank porcelain masks dove out of the shadows.

Hinata closed her eyes.

Twenty-three hours, forty-seven minutes, and fifty seconds.

Her team was a minute and ten seconds early.

Aburame Shino and Inuzuka Kiba.

"I know," she said, a light apology in her words. " But you said that –"

"A corpse doesn't talk," the rough voice of the Inuzuka ninja completed for her, brushing the Aburame's worries away with a dismissing movement of his hand. "Dead men tell no tales, eh?" he grinned cheekily. "Don't worry, Shino. We got this," he assured him with a wink that no one could see.

Shino was not amused. Despite not showing his face, both Hinata and Kiba knew him too well not to be able to tell what went on behind that mask of his.

Ignoring Kiba's remark altogether, Shino continued, "Everyone is in position. Blue, you have done your part here. Wait for your partner; he has yet to clear the upper level."

Kiba, however, wasn't offended and didn't take it personally. When they were on mission, Shino was all business. Not even he could blame him. "Here," the wild man said, tossing her an object rolled in a small handkerchief. Hinata caught it in mid-air, the familiar weight of her own mask instantly recognized.

"Arigato, Kiba-kun," she thanked as she secured it on the top of her head with her face still visible, the square cloth folded nicely inside one of the pockets sewed in the inside of her dress, or what was left of it.

Kiba gave her a salute. "We'll see you in the designed meeting point, Blue-sama!"

Hinata's closed grin made her dimples show. "Hai!"

With a last thumb-ups from Kiba and an approving nod from Shino, they hurried to the entrance of the torture chamber. They had work to do.

"Kiba-kun, Shino-kun," she called softly as they exited.

Both men stopped instantly.

Hinata observed her slender fingers, noting absentmindedly the coppery dirt caking her nails. "Please, do it fast."

Behind his colorless mask, the Aburame's brows furrowed. "You are well aware of what they've done. It is illogical for them to die a quick death. It is undeserving."

Pale eyes did not change. "They value their life above all the money stored in the world, Shino-kun," she replied calmly. "More than any woman, more than any valuable materialistic possession. And as such, their lives will be taken. A debt will be paid with the price of their breathing."

Beside Shino, Kiba shook his head, a small chuckle escaping past his mouth. "It's useless, Shino," he told him with apparent humor. "You know how our little Blue is." Whistling to give the call to an awaiting Akamaru outside, he added, "Let's get this over with and get out of here. My stomach wants steak."

Shino didn't say anything else and simply sighed to himself as he walking ahead of the Inuzuka.

He hated to admit that Kiba was right; they had no time to lose. The sooner they finished, the better off everyone would be. Besides, one of his kikaichu was telling him the higher rooms were cleared. He was sure only the smell of death resided in the upper floor, courtesy of a certain raven-haired shinobi.

With another breathy laugh, Kiba followed after him, the bark of a gigantic white dog booming down the hall.

Akamaru had made his presence known.

Hinata's lips curved in a smile she could not hide.

Those men were so dear to her. So dear.

Akamaru included.

They had grown together, struggled together, and fought together for the last five years.

Team Crimson Red was a single unit; they were one and acted as one. Where one went, the others followed. When one suffered, the others did as well.

Or at least, that was what the original five members of the team agreed and believed on.

The sixth member wasn't so keen on thinking like they did.

And speaking of him...

"Still as gentle as ever."

The new presence invading the room failed to startle her.

She was too used to his antics for her to be surprised anymore.

Lily inherited eyes looked up from bottom to top.

Black shinobi sandals and a dark outfit that she knew so well stood in front of her. After all, it was a uniform she herself used. It all led to a pair of capable and strong arms ruled by intense training, and a spiky mop of unkept hair that swayed in the morning breeze. In the closed room and away from the outer world, there was no wind and the dark bangs at either side of his cheeks laid still for once. His mask had been removed, and his Sharingan was activated, making it stand out in the lack of light. Those ruby orbs blinked ominously as they absorbed her entirely.

"Sasuke-san," she greeted him, his nonchalant, almost bored, gaze a welcome one as her smile deepened.

Soundless steps neared her form and he crouched in front of her, his eyes subtly inspecting her from head to toe, not bothering to even glance at the corpse beside her.

Silence on his part, and then:

"You are hurt."

It wasn't a question, but his undertone betrayed the concept, and Hinata's eyes softened because she knew that under his cold persona, Sasuke was not merely stating an undeniable fact.

She, however, would never contradict him, or bring the topic up, so she shrugged a bit, and admitted, "Just a little."

His unimpressed expression told her that he knew she was lying, but just like she, he didn't speak about it either.

It was mutual understanding, and that was enough for both of them.

The bruises she had allowed herself to receive went unmentioned, just like her no longer fashionable clothes.

Instead, he glanced at her hair and an unhappy frown flashed by his lips.

"Your hair," he commented flatly.

Hinata's fingers immediately traced the pointy ends of her new haircut. Funny how she had planned for one a week ago, and here she was, with a fresh look and free of charge. "It got cut...but I really don't mind."

His eyes seemed to say, _But I do._

"You could have killed him sooner," he said, his gaze beyond her and pointedly on the body behind them. "It would have made this mission faster."

Hinata sighed softly. "I-I know." Her hands tightened gradually on her lap. "I just..."

Sasuke's scarlet dojutsu returned to her.

"I just don't want to be a monster," she whispered. "Unfeeling, killing without mercy. I don't want to become like –"

"Nonsense," he cut her off and grabbed the back of her neck, bringing her closer to that stable gaze that was extinguishing its embers until only dark ash was left. Obsidian eyes replaced red as his fingers knitted the nape of her neck.

She gasped sharply when a 'pop' was emitted and his cold fingers left her, leaving a trail of ironic fire in their wake.

"Better?" he asked in a quiet murmur.

Hinata nodded, her lids lowering in the instant bliss.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted. "I released the women and children and took care of the guards. Shino and Kiba went after the few bosses that were left in the building." A sadistic smirk crossed his mouth. "I can only guess how bloody things will get up there. Akamaru is taking the victims to your Captain – "

" – she's also your Captain – "

The comment went ignored by the Uchiha. " – and I assume you already know where the information is," he finished. "Everything's going according to plan."

"Just like always," Hinata's smile grew. " And I do know. It's three floors above us, hidden behind a wall of chakra metal." She paused, eying him warily. "But is everyone safe, Sasuke-san?"

Sasuke's lips pressed in a grim line. "We are still counting."

The light in her eyes dulled a little. "O-oh."

"Come on," he stood and extended one of his hands to her. "Let's get those documents and regroup."

"Hai."

**X**

**.**

_One's destiny is often believed that __mortals' lives are out of their own control and only__ written by the gods' knowing hands._

_If a being is born weak, it will be forever fragile._

_If a being is born strong, it will be forever formidable._

_...these are lies._

In a mild October night, one of the female integrands of Team Crimson Red successfully infiltrated into one of the world's biggest mafia conspirators involved in the illegal sell of women, children, and vital organs, among others, such as shinobi's bloodlimits.

It was impossible to track them down.

Well, _almost_.

The next night, the nightmare was nothing but a memory in a dark realm.

And as the released victims were reunited with their loved ones, the already dark skies descended with rain.

In the distance and atop of the highest trees, five silhouettes watched the rest of the world finally experience some happiness.

A smirk played across tan lips and a gloved hand ran through a white dog's fur as the first drops of water began to fall.

The buffoon of the class. The unintellectual. The dumb.

Inuzuka Kiba.

And just beside him, his loyal companion, Akamaru.

A silent man watched a pair of lovers embrace each other, their tears of relief and sorrow washed away by the cold rain that the heavens had brought.

The weird. The neglected. The misunderstood. The gross and dark.

Aburame Shino.

Pale orbs of lavender mercury were alight with gladness, and inwardly she cheered for them, her small hands fisted over her heart as her own crystalline tears vanished with the celestial showers. Their happiness...was her own.

The weak. The too gentle. The disgrace. The one who would never be strong. The one who should have never been born.

Hyuuga Hinata.

Contrasting onyx eyes blinked and flashed an eerie red in the abysmal night. Unemotional in the outside, but feeling at peace, if slightly envious of the families hugging one another, in the inside.

At least some weren't like him. They weren't cursed.

The mysterious. The arrogant. The once happy child that had become a heartless man. The traitor everyone judged. The one that chose a path of darkness.

Uchiha Sasuke.

All of them, the students.

A cape that protected her from the rain fluttered in the wind as she landed.

None of the students spared her a glance, too concentrated in the scene in front of them to say anything.

Ruby eyes, hardened by the years and death, softened as her equally red lips smiled brightly.

The sixth member of Crimson Red had arrived.

The orphan. The mentor. The widow. The strong teacher.

The one who had rescued them in one way or another.

The mother figure that never failed to say, "Well done," even if _they_ failed because she knew, unlike everyone else, whom each of them was. Their worth. Their infinite value.

The one that casted illusions, the one that stayed hidden. The one that lived a lie but knew truth.

Yuuhi Kurenai.

Inuzuka, Aburame, Hyuuga, Uchiha, Yuuhi.

This was Team Crimson Red, the one that belied destiny.

**.**

**.**

**.**

**A/N: I **feel like a dork, but here it is. I was supposed to upload sooner o.e. But life got busy.

Now, hear me out: Team 8 never gets its time to shine, so I decided to change that. Plus, in all Team 8 Fanfictions, they are either never well-made or incomplete. It's sad, brothers and sisters. Sad.

As for SasuHina? Well...blame my obsession with this ship. It is actually pretty interesting how Sasuke came to be part of this team, though.

I want to see what people think about this one, but I can't promise you I will update it in two weeks: I have five other Fanfictions to update. However, I'm working on all of them.

-7.11.2014

Next chapter:

_**Chapter 1:**_

_Ruby Scarlet _

_._

_._

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"_From now on, I will be your teacher!"_

_-_**Yuuhi Kurenai**

5 Years Earlier

Genin Graduation Day

Aburame.

Hyuuga.

Inuzuka.

Eyes the color of a spring-born bloody rose in full bloom read the scroll in her hand, slowly scrutinizing each kanji character written in perfectly well-done calligraphy.

Names.

Clans.

Genin.

This was her new Team.

Yuuhi Kurenai's Team Eight.


	2. Chapter 1: Ruby Scarlet

_**A/N #2: Okay, okay! I updated the unbeta'ed version yesterday, unaware i had done so. Apologies for that.**_

_**This chapter, however, has been checked and beta'ed, so everything should be okay now. If not, notify me? Thank you!**_

_**-9.11.14**_

_**Chapter 1:**_

_Ruby Scarlet _

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**.**

**.**

"_From now on, I will be your teacher!"_

_-_**Yuuhi Kurenai**

**.**

The heavenly showers had faded into a cool, misty air, night life slowly stirring after the downpour of the autumn season.

Crimson Red had set camp in the desolated caverns cited in the western part of the Fire Country. No one came close to the rocky hills and harsh winter peaks of the mountain, and so it had become one of the secretive installations for the group when in mission.

Kiba and Shino had, after patting her head and touched her shoulder, (actions done respectively by that order in gestures of congratulations and friendship,) walked out of the tent, off to do whatever they wished with their free time. They could do anything, as long as they didn't stray away from the secluded area Kurenai had designed and chosen four years ago.

Another mission had been successfully handled and they weren't expected back in the village for the rest of the week.

They had time to rest and catch up with a healthy amount of sleep, something Hinata wasn't going to pass up.

Not today.

She was tired, although not exhausted. If necessary, she'd keep going. Her stamina was regarded as high, rivaling that of her cousin, Neji, a Jonin and soon to be ANBU.

But when proposed with the idea of returning to Konoha and reporting to the Hokage that same night, Kurenai-sensei had refused.

"No," she had said, serene as she untied her cape and wrapped it around Hinata's shoulders, covering her from the cold and smiling kindly to the rest of her Team. "Tonight we rest. Tomorrow we move."

Her orders had been absolute, and no one had dared to question them.

After all, it wasn't every day that the Team's mentor presented them with a break. She had tutored them well in appreciating every blink of slumber they could gain, for such a thing didn't come as often as some might like.

So Hinata sat on her sleeping mat, heavy-lidded eyes resting on the dark-haired man applying soothing salve on the rope-burns of her right tight, obedient to her Captain's words.

Sasuke, for his part, had pushed the length of her ragged blue dress up her leg, exposing porcelain skin marred with firey red and irritated pink rough line prints, unmindful of any sense of modesty between the two.

That particular tent, usually reserved for Kurenai and Hinata, housed the Uchiha and Hyuuga as the former concentrated on the task at hand and the latter tugged the black coat closer, sinking into the warmth the older female had left behind in the article of clothing and trying, simultaneously, to cover as much as she could of herself.

Hyuuga Hinata was a kunoichi of the Leaf first, but being a kunoichi didn't mean she had to stop being a woman. Thus, her lack of cover was starting to make her slightly uneasy when in the electric and muted presence of Uchiha Sasuke.

Her heel rested on his lap, her left leg tucked underneath her, and Shino's and Kiba's quiet murmurs of conversation coming from outside were strategically indistinguishable, a soothing lullaby of unknown dialogue mingling together and resounding gently in her ears. Even the Inuzuka man spoke softly, something he'd mastered radically quickly, to the surprise and secret satisfaction of the red-eyed Yuuhi.

"Sasuke-san," Hinata said, putting an end to the calm silence that had established its existence for the last ten minutes.

Sasuke sparred her an inquisitive glance before going back to work, the tips of his fingers sliding across her flesh and completing the second coat of the slimy curative substance around Hinata's sensitive burns.

The men he'd killed just a few short hours ago were guilty of the inflicted damage on her, and albeit he held knowledge of the diverse scars that spoke stories of training and previous battles on her body, it bothered him to see more added to the list.

"Daijoubu?" she whispered.

Sasuke's hand went still, recognizing the real meaning of her concern. It was a question she only asked in delicate situations, for she was well aware that he wasn't fond of sharing inner musings unless strictly necessary

He responded after a pause.

"Aa."

Her eyes closed and reopened as she inhaled, the lavender-cream depths warm as she reached out and traced a lock of his ebony hair.

"Nothing happened, Sasuke," she murmured, purposely discharging the honorific.

And nothing had. She was alright. She was _alive_. That was all that mattered.

Her mission was to be bait, and she had been bait. Nothing more, nothing less. It was something she didn't regret.

"I know."

_But it could have._

The words went by soundlessly, but Hinata felt them caressing her face.

"I will never leave," she promised, like she had done for a while now, her fingers drowning themselves in the blackness of his mane. She had always loved the texture and length of it between her fingers; it was smooth, like silk or water slipping through her hands.

It was quite addicting.

"I will not disappear."

He finished dressing her burns quietly, his eyes hidden by his bangs, the strong jaw she had taken a liking to trace, tense.

"You cannot say that. You have no power over Death, Hinata."

His words were uttered matter-of-factly, but his burning eyes told another tale when he pinned her down with obsidian orbs.

"Maybe not," she conceded in contemplation.

Sasuke looked away.

His face was instantly turned back by tiny hands, hands that could nurture, hands that could heal, hands that could love _him_...hands that could kill with the weakest of touches. "But," she continued and a half-smile adorned her lips, "I have power over my life." The pads of her fingertips grazed his cheek. "I will never leave," she repeated.

And as he watched those pale eyes of hers encased in unbelievably long and thick lashes, filled with determination and truth, he dared to believe.

He inclined his head forward until his forehead pressed against her shoulder, placing itself there for support, and exhaled inaudibly.

Hinata had to suppress the shiver caused by his breath. She was used to contact, to blows, to spars, to Kurenai's encouraging hand of approval, to Shino's subtle brushes, to Kiba messing up her hair, but not to this...

She was inexperienced in how to respond when the tip of his nose nuzzled the side of her neck.

Affection had never come easily, at least, not this kind.

The Hyuuga were an unapproachable clan, and she had grow up in a house of distressed wounds and uncleaned tears.

She...she wasn't used to this.

And neither was Sasuke.

The tentative and hesitant contact the two had held in the past was culminating, escalating into something altogether, becoming something stronger, something...more than what they already had.

However unsure, unsteady female palms slid down his own firm shoulders, finding a comfortable place for them to stay.

And as Sasuke played with the jagged ends of her irregular hair, some strands longer or shorter than the others, he finally spoke.

"...Keep your word, Hyuuga."

Stroking the nape of his neck, Hinata smiled. "Mhm, Uchiha."

As Sasuke and Hinata inverted themselves in a world of their own, Inuzuka Kiba's face was busy with an unhappy frown and a twitching eye as he rolled bits of paper into small pieces and inserted them into his nostrils.

Shino casted a curious gaze at the Inuzuka ninja sitting cross-legged on the hard surface of the cave, a raised eyebrow barely visible under the shadow caused by his hood.

Sensing his covered eyes on him, Kiba huffed, which was muffled into a snorting sound.

"I swear I can smell their hormones all the way out here," he said indignantly.

...or something that ran along those lines.

His stuffed nose made his speech sound...well, stuffed.

Shino's brief smirk went unseen. "If I recall correctly, which I do, you're entirely responsible for Sasuke-san and Hinata's relationship status, Kiba," he replied easily.

"They're not in a relationship!" he was quick to deny, puffing his cheeks out. He still couldn't accept that his baby girl was becoming a woman.

No, no, no, no!

Much less when Uchiha Icecube Sasuke was the object of her affections.

NO.

He couldn't bear it.

His baby...

His baby Hinata was all grown up.

As if knowing his thoughts, Shino the party pooper and exterminator of hopes and dreams, came uninvited to crash his personal universe of illusions until there was nothing left. "Hinata is no longer a young girl, Kiba. Besides, she's a kunoichi and a member of Crimson Red."

Kiba glowered at the reminder. "Pfft! You're one to talk! Who's the one who always places a beetle with her to monitor her at all times, eh? Oh, that's right – it's you!" he accused, pointing an emphasizing finger at the Aburame.

Shino pushed his signature goggles up his nose. "That's not the point," he said unaffectedly, but unable to contradict Kiba's words. "The point is that you must now carry with the aftermath of your actions. If not for you, Sasuke-san would've never courted our teammate."

"For the last time, he is _not_ courting her!" Kiba pouted in annoyance. There was nothing he could say to change things now, he knew that, but he sure as hell could try. Had he known Sasuke would join Crimson Red shortly after the performance of his 'prank,' he would have _never_ proceed with it. But he'd been too immature to listen to the little voice of caution at the back of his mind that warned him of such an outcome.

He'd been nearing 13 at the time, and to say that his childish personality had yet to outgrow itself and develop into one of a true ninja back then was an understatement.

"He makes her happy, and vice versa," stated the heir of the clan of insects. "As her friends and comrades, it's only logical to wish for their happiness and let them be, Kiba. Besides," the corner of his lips threatened to lift into a snicker. "You were at fault. Why is that?" Shino continued, keeping the smugness out of his voice. Well, almost all of it, anyway. "Because you tricked Sasuke-san when we performed our first authentic mission as Genin. It was designed to be an undercover assignment. An assignment, may it be added, that you ruined when you decided to have 'fun' and Sasuke-san almost ran a hole through your body with his Chidori. You provoked him, and he acted. Your dishonorable actions – "

"Shut up already, I get it! You don't have to repeat it so many times, I ain't deaf," the brunet mumbled unhappily, begrudgingly admitting that Shino was right, if inwardly.

Ruby eyes watched from a little distance away in genuine amusement at the interaction between her boys. She didn't bother to add that Sasuke and Hinata had known each other before she had met Kiba or Shino; it wouldn't serve to hurt Kiba's pride or prove Shino's point, though he was right in that Hinata was no longer a child. And neither were they. They were adults, all of them.

Though their original personalities remained, they were hardened with the path of life.

Hinata was still kind, yet full of confidence in who she was.

Sasuke was still detached, yet kept his bonds with the Team.

Kiba was still loud-mouthed, yet kept quiet and analyzed the situation when it was important, cleverness brimming in wild Inuzuka eyes.

Shino was still what every Aburame was, yet expressed himself when in their company.

Each had changed in some aspects, but had not become what they were not.

Even she, herself, had changed.

She was no longer the Kurenai that had been placed as a Jonin Instructor to Team 8, the one that lived in a superficial game of a lie.

No.

Everything had changed and it had all begun with her pupils.

They had taught her how to be human; she had taught them how to be shinobi.

**X**

_**.**_

**5 Years Earlier**

**Genin Graduation Day**

**.**

It was happening again.

The world had gone mad.

The world was once again bathed in ruby scarlet, painted with macabre human blood, perfumed with the overwhelming fragrance of ultimate decay of flesh and bone.

Yuuhi Kurenai's lids twitched as she struggled to escape from the wells of a captive slumber, but her eyes remained shut, her mind disoriented as her body shook, muscles coiling and tensing under salty wet skin, her brain unable to control her unconscious actions as she dreamed. All she could think about was that...

_It was happening again._

The world had gone mad indeed.

Reality had ceased to exist. Threads of solid facts had been severed and physical objects had lost their touch.

Memories of long ago were coming back to life, whispering white noise of bittersweet nonsense, wanting to share the secrets of her past with the suffocating neighboring surroundings, slowly trapping her in a spiderweb of distant abysmal dreams that had been and that were and that would be today, tomorrow...yesterday.

Her memories were battling against each other like they always did without her consent.

It was a daily poisonous dance.

Between awake and asleep, Kurenai heard herself gasp in her fight for stability, wanting to hold on to anything, everything, and nothing to aid her – save her – from herself.

So her mind sought, and her mind found.

"_Don't forget_," the kind but baritone voice of her father had told her when she was young, "_that one day, the powerful will be overtaken by the weak_."

She remembered having nodded her little pitch-black head, wavy and untamed hair bouncing as if to emphasize her understatement of her father's lesson.

He'd smiled a closed gesture of chapped lips, identical red eyes wrinkling at the sides as he ruffled the top of her head in an act of fatherly affection.

"Good. Never forget this, Kurenai. Always keep it with you, close to your heart." He had tapped his index finger on her breast and stood up from his crouched position.

"I will!" she had promised and watched him walk away as she waved from afar, wishing him luck in his mission and only ceasing to do so when he disappeared into a point far in the unreachable horizon where he couldn't hear nor see.

Her childish mind had innocently wondered when he would come back to teach her how to effectuate a successful genjutsu, something she had never excelled at like the rest of her kin. The gift of casting illusions everyone possessed in her family had failed to grace her, along with the rest of the ninja arts. Training had been thus required, and back then, as a child, training had been nothing but a superficial excuse to be with her father.

She had loved that man dearly, and she had turned her back to him that day at the gates, after the distance robbed him away to perform a mission for the benefit of the village like the loyal shinobi he was.

A mission from which he never returned.

It had never occurred to her that his last words to her had been not just a comment, but a glimpse into her future and a final blessing that had disguised itself as a push of encouragement.

A glimpse for what he knew would come and she'd been oblivious to. A disguised blessing that had been a truth dwelling in a warning.

A warning for the horrible things that would arise.

And Kurenai...had had not the slightest of clues.

Such had been her innocence.

She hadn't known then that the world was about to start dyeing itself black and scarlet red from the Third Shinobi War's chaos.

It had crossed her thoughts, but it never sank in until she saw the magnitude of pandemonium for herself.

A black nightmare no light could reach, the screams of the innocent painting the skies with blood, rain powerless in washing it away.

_Get up,_ her current voice cut through the entrance of her memory, preventing any more of the video footage running unattended. Just the simple echo f her father's words was enough to make her center on the _now_.

Her eyes finally flickered open, giving way to a blurry white ceiling. Narrowing her sight, she focused and curled her fists at the lack of air residing in her lungs. Cold sweat was brimming on her brow and not even the warmth of her apartment was enough to chase away the chill that penetrated her skin and made her heart freeze.

Sitting up completely, she exhaled in an attempt to calm her pounding heart and sneaked a peek at the clock resting on her nightstand.

She had two more minutes before her alarm went off.

Glancing away as she loosened her shoulders, the Mistress of Genjutsu in all Konohagakure stood.

She had no reason to dwell in bed any longer and try to prevent the inevitable.

Today was the day...Today was the day she met with her Genin team.

Pressing a pair of pink lips together, she began the daily ritual of dressing.

She did so slowly and carefully, and only hesitating when she reached a blank ceramic mask stored in the depths of her closet, along with the uniform it was part of.

A dull gaze stared at the piece of white nontransparent glass for a long moment, and her fingers lifted to touch the Leaf tattoo inked on her right forearm, both of which linked her to a survival of deceit, and delusion, and blood, and tears, and conflicts, and pain, and lifeless eyes that pierced her own with ugly accusation, and burning hatred, and –

"That's in the past now," she repeated the same sentence she had come up with in the last month, willing herself to believe it, willing those phantoms that chased after her to forget her.

She was supposed to be another person today.

She was to be no longer Ruby Scarlet, but Yuuhi Kurenai, a 'fresh' Jonin in charge of Team 8.

And Ruby Scarlet...

That agent was just a memory needed to be buried, and Kurenai was taking over for the next oncoming years.

Today was the day she took her first step.

That was what the Sandaime Hokage was asking of her, and as a dutiful kunoichi of the Leaf, she would do as she was ordered.

"_I'm not doing this to punish you," he had said, old kind eyes hooded but alight with wisdom. "I'm doing this for your well-being. You can't keep living like this, mission after mission, always out of the village, always undercover. If I were to allow it, I'd never be able to face your father in the world beyond. Therefore, your identity as Ruby Scarlet will be eliminated from the records from now on."_

Leaving the porcelain piece where she found it, she grabbed her Jonin jacket and closed the door to her secret life as Ruby Scarlet, and opened the one that led directly to her existence of lies and illusions as Kurenai.

**X**

**.**

Aburame.

Hyuuga.

Inuzuka.

Eyes the color of a spring-born bloody rose in full bloom read the scroll in her hand, slowly scrutinizing each kanji character written in perfectly well-done calligraphy.

Names.

Clans.

Genin.

This was her new Team.

Team Eight.

Her gauze-covered fingers allowed the scroll to go back to its previous state, and she stored it away in her kunai pouch.

The wind of the fresh months of the year messed untamed dark hair in all directions, and she pushed it behind her shoulders as her eyes scanned the building in front of her.

The Ninja Academy of Konoha.

Her arched brow loosened and a swift smile appeared on her wine-colored lips.

The building brought her old memories of a good childhood.

How very naïve.

Pinpointing the angle of the sun, she stepped into the Academy, and headed to the assigned room in which her students were expecting her entrance.

She was late by twenty seconds, but that mattered little to green Genin such as them. It would be no big deal.

Iruka, one of the shinobi of her generation, was just coming out of the room when she rounded the corner. He headed in the opposite direction, and didn't take notice of her.

She watched him go silently.

She hadn't seen him in a long time.

A bittersweet smile crossed her lips. He looked different since the last time they'd met.

Time really changed the world and its people.

Of course, she was no exception.

Sliding the door open, she was received with the sound of loud chatter. Her entrance, however, was not gone unnoticed as several heads turned her way.

"Hey, isn't that a Sensei?" one of the boys murmured.

"Must be!" a girl with short brown hair said, dark eyes taking Kurenai in. "Oh, she's gorgeous~!"

"Hmph. She's nothing special," the girl sitting at her side replied, tossing her auburn hair back.

"Are you kidding? Look at her eyes; they're red, like rubies! They're so pretty!" a girl with long blond hair and light blue eyes said in awe.

"You only say that because yours are so boring," the same girl replied, her own green eyes sharp and hard.

"Please," the blonde snorted. "My eyes are beautiful. Yours are soulless."

Kurenai stopped herself from rolling her own at the vain conversation the girls had engaged in; had she lacked self-control, she would have told them to keep it quiet, but as it was, she had one purpose in this classroom, and that was to take Team 8 with her.

"Inuzuka Kiba," she said.

A tan boy with dark brown hair and a white pup on his desk looked up.

"Hyuuga Hinata."

In the far corner, embraced by the lack of light, an indigo head glanced at her slowly.

"Aburame Shino."

Covered glasses shone in her direction.

"Come."

With that, she walked out, expecting them to follow.

The new Genin stared at her back, unsure in how to proceed.

Feeling their hesitancy, Kurenai looked over her shoulder.

Remembering how a normal person acted, her lips forced themselves into a calm smile that was, hopefully, genuine-looking enough to appease them.

"A sensei expects her students to act as requested when told to do something," she commented lightly. "Come on. We have a long day ahead of us."

The first to move was the Inuzuka boy, his own crooked grin mischievous and energetic.

"Move it, guys!" he called to the rest, barely containing his enthusiasm.

He was now an official ninja and the feelings of accomplishment had yet to fade away.

"Sensei is waiting!"

**X**

**.**

They didn't meet in the training grounds, as any other team ordered by the Hokage, nor did Kurenai take them out to the park near the Academy.

No. She had other plans, and those locations, often visited by others, would not do.

Not this time.

From the corner of her eye, she watched them, measured them, calculating her oncoming actions.

The Inuzuka, Kiba, looked ready to face the trial of his life, his gaze sharp, his fangs exposed in a wide smile.

Confidence.

The boy had faith, if blind, in himself and his abilities.

Eagerness.

It was in the air, giving it scent.

He couldn't wait to get to whatever it was that she was taking them, but was affected, perhaps unknowingly, by his less anxious teammates. They were the only people who were rooting him to reality.

The Hyuuga, Hinata, could not be properly defined, not really. Her head hung low, her shoulders were stiff, and her hands were fisted in front of her chest.

Kurenai centered on her and found...

Timidness.

The girl lacked what Kiba had in abundance.

Self-conscious.

For every little sound, her eyes averted to the source, as if expecting Death himself to appear before her and drag her to the pits of hell.

The Aburame, Shino, walked calmly beside his new teammates, a cool presence that seemed to put Hinata at ease, if slightly.

Stoic.

The boy was inexpressive, pocketing his hands deep into the pockets of his coat.

Silent.

He had yet to utter a single word.

...Kurenai knew each of them.

Not as much as she'd like, just what she had seen in the files.

But nonetheless, this was her Team. And as her Team, they would have to prove themselves to her first.

"So, sensei – " Kiba began, only to be interrupted.

"Kurenai."

"Huh?"

The Yuuhi titled her head back to look at him in the eyes. "My name. Kurenai. Kurenai-sensei."

She noticed the way Hinata paid close but subtle attention to the awakening conversation, could feel the sensation of observing eyes on her figure as Shino kept himself in the sidelines but made his senses aware of every little occurrence that stirred.

Potential.

Yuuhi Kurenai sensed the potential.

It was in the air, accumulating like auras in each of the students; it was growing like embers bursting to life.

And she would fan the flames.

"From now on, I will be your teacher."

Her feet stopped walking.

With the graceful turn of a dancer, her body turned to face them.

"From now on, I will groom you, I will prepare you, I will teach you, I will turn you into a shinobi."

A pause.

"Training begins now."

And with that, she disappeared.

**.**

**X**

Next:

Chapter 2:

Vanishing Green

.

.

.

"Abandoning one's comrades meets no logic."

-Aburame Shino

**.**

**.**

**.**

**A/N:** I hate cliff hangers as much as you do, trust me, but things will spice up a bit in the next chapter, and SasuHina moments will also be in there.

This is an alternative universe, and things will evolve away from canon, though some things will remain exactly the same. I'm just tired of canon. We'll see where I take this story in the future.

Kurenai and her father had a different relationship from the one the anime showed, Sasuke's story will be changed a little from after the massacre, Team 8 will be the focus here, etc, etc. Honestly, I'm not fond of Team 7's interaction and dynamics, so I won't go deep into Team 7.

Thank you: **OneofMillions, alee26606, tactics2012, Breezy2319, umnia, Kibachow, Darth-Taisha, Honeyee, TheMaudlinEffect, Guest, Shalei, Kia-B, nikols, SarahiNia, HolySheet, Kali Luna, & !**

And again, please do review. You guys fill my heart. I apologize for being a bad author these past year, but it's something I have no control over. I've been writing as fast as I can and as much as I can when I have time. School is tough. I've been working little by little for the last two months in this chapter, believe me. I hate not being able to update as much as you do. I love writing, I love team 8, I love SasuHina, and I love writing for you guys. I do. Updates may not be every week, but I will not give up any of my stories. I love each and every one of them, and I will not surround them so easily.

Now, if ya don't mind, I have 46 pages of AP Bio to read for a test on Friday! I hope to hear from you all soon!

-9.10.14


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